Coca-Cola Hungary’s #YouthEmpowered programme is now helping young people living with disabilities and young girls as well

Starting this spring Coca-Cola Hungary’s #YouthEmpowered programme, which focuses on helping young people find their place on the labour market, has introduced two new target groups. The programme is now collaborating with Jamba Foundation and The Association of Hungarian Women in Science to organise workshops for young people living with disabilities and for young girls specifically. The online workshops are directing at choosing a career path and developing certain skills that are essential on the labour market. Additional characteristics and further understanding of these target groups are in the limelight of the programme’s recently launched podcast as well through interviews with their partners’ experts and also previous participants.

While according to a study conducted by McKinsey Institute in 2015, advancing women in science would add 11 percent growth to the world’s annual GDP, in Hungary, it is still relatively uncommon for young girls to choose a path in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields, and many of them decide to leave these because of gender stereotypes they encounter. The Association of Hungarian Women in Science (NaTE) is working on helping young girls interested in these areas to choose a career path that works for them, to find their way in these fields and industries. #YouthEmpowered programme on the other hand, aims to offer workshops for those young people who are just about to start their career or are currently seeking a job. Their workshops aim to help them not only to find their way on the labour market, but to understand their own expectations better as well. Participants can find out more about the areas that they are curious of or are already interested in, as well as learn about different ways of working nowadays and to understand which one suits their personality and character best. The association and the programme have found their common ground in workshops focusing on soft skills, such as self-knowledge, communication and negotiation skills. The collaboration, and so these first joint workshops started this spring.

In the case of people living with disabilities, the programme is working together with a new partner, Jamba Foundation. Their common goal is to offer their participants practical knowledge and skills that help them to find their place on the labour market. 

"In our experience, jobseekers living with disabilities are also looking for practical advice at the beginning of their careers, just like anyone else. #YouthEmpowered’s educational material is helping them in these, as well as in self-knowledge and practical tools to kick-start their careers. It is especially important for participants to discover their skills in a safe space, while they are offered the possibility to learn about and practice assertive communication”, she added.

Including the two new target groups, #YouthEmpowered is now helping altogether eight different target groups: apart from new graduates, university students, disadvantaged Roma youth, young mothers and young entrepreneurs, the programme puts great focus on helping young women as well. The target groups of the programme and their challenges are the topic of #YouthEmpowered recently launched podcast (available in Hungarian here), in which experts of partner associations and previous participants discuss these. While in April the podcast focuses on the challenges of young girls interested in STEM fields, young people living with disabilities are expected to be presented in the upcoming May episode.